Regulatory roles of extracellular vesicles in adverse pregnancy outcomes exposed with environmental toxicants

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from parental cells could communicate with neighboring or distant recipient cells. The components in EVs, especially non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and circular RNAs, could regulate the functions of the recipient cells. Meanwhile, EVs could also be used as valuable biomarkers and drug delivery carriers. Moreover, environmental toxicants may alter EVs components and regulate EVs-mediated pathogenesis of various diseases. In this review, we mainly summarized the roles of EV-derived non-coding RNAs in the regulation of cell dysfunctions in various adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preeclampsia (PE), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and miscarriage. Moreover, the effects of environmental toxicants on the components and functions of EVs, as well as on their regulatory roles in these diseases, were also discussed.

Keywords:

• Extracellular vesicles
• adverse pregnancy outcomes
• miRNAs
• lncRNAs
• circRNAs
• environmental toxicants

Acknowledgements

All authors wrote and checked the manuscript before submission. We greatly acknowledge Dr. Roger O. McClellan, the Editor-in-Chief of Critical Reviews in Toxicology, and a highly accomplished and anonymous reviewer for critical reading and helpful comments. We also acknowledge the helpful comments from Profs. Jumei Zeng (West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University) and Lisan Fang (The Eighth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University).

Declaration of interest

The affiliations of the authors are listed on the cover page. All individuals who contributed to this manuscript are listed as authors or acknowledged in the acknowledgment. The authors have sole responsibility for the preparation, analysis, and writing of the content of this manuscript. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The authors have not participated in and do not anticipate participation in any legal, regulatory, or advocacy proceedings related to the contents of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

We greatly acknowledge the grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC No. 82073589), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (No. JCYJ20210324114814038 and JCYJ20220530144403008), Futian Healthcare Research Project (No. FTWS2021009) and the Research Funds from the Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.